eagle888Re your post which included;"... I was actually saddened...

eagle888

Re your post which included;
"... I was actually saddened that Howard could not go with a bit more dignity. ..."

Kevin Rudd afforded him more dignity than any other incoming PM has ever done to an outgoing PM - for nil gratitude!

John Howard should be remembered for his complete record, not just his fortuitous length of tenure as PM.

To most of those people who voted to eject Howard in 2007 he will be most remembered for:
. His miserable failures as Treasurer under Malcolm Fraser.
. 'Core' and 'non-core' election promises.
. Allowing Pauline Hanson & xenophobia to flourish.
. Treating refugees coming by boat as political pawns, thereby fanning xenophobia & community division.
. Little matters such as the AWB wheat scandal.
. Committing Australia to highly controversial wars in Afghanistan & Iraq.
. Wasting $Billions of taxpayers' money purchasing expensive & sometimes inappropriate weaponry.
. Ingratiating himself to George W Bush.
. His reluctance & abject failure to properly address emerging environmental challenges
. Effectively ending Peter Costello's leadership ambitions.
. Watching the firesale of our gold reserves.
. Allowing core government infrastructure to decay & to become increasingly inadequate to meet our needs.
. Giving us 'Work Choices' & the GST.
. Extension of welfare to the upper echelons of society.
. Largely squandering the massive opportunities provided courtesy of the mining boom.

Howard even failed to really make a difference about gun ownership in Australia - it seems all that taxpayer money was spent for nought.

Howard was a leader bogged in Engalnd's romantic 'Brittania Rules the waves' colonial past & totally incapable of providing the leadership to enable Australia to realise a more mature & significant place amongst sovereign nations.

Howard's sychophants will laud his recent award but many others will regard it as just another example of privilege looking after its own.